The Steel Guitar Forum

Hey All,
I'm a moonlight picker. I got a 25 foot path cord recently to hear what my sound was like at dance floor distance.
WOW!!!!
What sounded good with the amp next to me at 20+ feet had enough treble to kill peoples ear drums!!! I use a NV112 which is great. I turned the treble and presence down to -9 (9 o'clock position) to get that good tone I had up close.
The problem is up close it sounds like mud now. So I put the amp as far from me as possible.
What do you guys think? Thanks.

How about micing your amp through the PA?
Is this a better choice?

Parr, have you installed the Burr Brown chips in your 112 that Ken Fox sells? If you hadn't it will really take the screach out of the highs, and clear up the lows. My 112 sounds great since I installed the chips.

Terry

Highs are very directional, so tilting the amp back will tend to soften the sound out front.

Roger,
Yes I mike the amp and before I found this out treble was cut out at the board so that it would sound good through the mains.
Mike, where can I get that chip you spoke of??
Donny, good idea, but wouldn't there still be too much treble sound in the house?

opps sorry Terry I wrongly called you mike, was out late last night on gig, am sleep walking today.

Parr, you can get the chips from Ken Fox. He'll send instructions with them showing where they go in the amp.

I always angled my amp up towards the house ceiling (but not directly at my head) to help keep the highs from deafening the audience, and to better hear what the amp was doing. I wish a lot more players would do what you did. I think they would be amazed at what they really sound like to the listeners...as would any member of a band. I used to required all the guys in my band to do that, until they got a feel for the correct stage sound to make the venue sound best. It works wonders!!

The sound tech (if you have one) at the house mixer should be compensating for the stage sound. If your highs were piercing, he should have been cutting them back in the house mix...but he can only do so much. If the players understand what "too much" of something is (volume, highs, lows, etc.), they can correct for it on stage.

Parr, like Mike said, just email Ken Fox about the chips. He'll send you the 5 chips, and instructions on how to put them in. It's not hard at all if you follow the instructions. I think you'll like the difference in tone. It really warms it up. Do a search in electronics on Burr Brown chips for Nashville 112 and I think you'll see the majority that have installed the chips, really liked the difference in tone. I think their about $42-$43 for the 5 chips.
BTW- I always put my 112 on a stand and it's tilted back, but not much.

Terry

Donny, good idea, but wouldn't there still be too much treble sound in the house?

Only for people seated on the ceiling!

I'm with Donny on this one, the trebble is pretty directional. I point my amps right at my head. That way I am never too loud, and I can always hear what I am doing over the band.

Depending on the venue, I point my amps in several directions. I'm very sensitive to the highs so if I'm playing a gig where treble is important, I'll set the amps flat on the floor. Otherwise I'll turn them up to point at me. The trick for me is to give myself an accurate idea what I sound like out front without putting out so much in terms of highs that my ears start ringing.

My hearing has rolled off so bad above 2000 hertz now that I use two amps or at least run a bit of my amp through the monitor mix. Otherwise all I hear is mids and mud! With all the mids and lows from behind all I need is a little bit of the amps presence in the monitors to make me feel right at home again on stage.

My preference is to have my amp right in front of me for sound. Works well at home! Considering how I play, maybe the audience would appreciate that as well!!

Terry, I finally am getting a better price on the chips and have lowered the price just last week! I hope they can keep their stock up now. It has been a dry spell for almost two years with the actual Texas Instrument Distributors!!

As they are considered a new product I do not advertise a price onthe Forum, per Forum policy.

..There was a fellow with the Morells, here in Missouri, D. Clinton Thompson, who had just taped a circle of cardboard onto the front of the amp, directly in the center of the speaker cone. He claimed, if memory servers, that it dispersed the immediate highs , making that "ear shredding at the front of the stage" tone go away. I THINK Guitar Player magazine did a little spot on him a couple years back--can't find it online though.

Briliantly simple, and he claimed it works.

A

That actually works, Aaron. There's a commercial version of that cardboard circle available, but I don't know where to find it. Someone else surely does, though.

Why doesn't Peavey make and sell the N112
with the chips already installed?

WeberVST sells the device called a Beam Blocker. They work very well for that ice pick in the ears treble taming.

d. clinton thompson is a fabulous guitar picker; he's on Jonathan Richman's country CD with Tom Brumley and plays just the tatstiest solos...

John said:

Why doesn't Peavey make and sell the N112
with the chips already installed?

because the chips are very expensive, and the sonic difference doesn't make or break the amp. The opamp mod is for tone-nuts and tweakers like us, but not for everyone. Obviously the amp is already a huge hit without the cap or opamp mods.

Brad